Every Wednesday in the Herald Express, our Torquay United correspondent Richard Hughes takes a sideways look at what's going on in the World of the Gulls. This week, he says that whether people like it or not - and increasingly more don't - Gary Johnson isn't going anywhere any time soon - whether that's the right decision or not.
I am sorry to tell you this, protesters, but however hard you bang that drum and chant ‘Gary Out’ - I don’t think he is going anywhere, at least not until the end of the season. And even then, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Whether you or I like it or not, Gary Johnson is not a quitter – and whether you or I believe him or not, he says he is the best man for the job. And the board seem to agree with him.
The noisy protest outside the changing room last Saturday, after Torquay United had thrown away what seemed like a perfectly good 3-2 lead against Slough Town, might have drowned the Gaffer out on the video – so they didn’t use it, and only posted a few of his words – but the Thursday before at the usual press call he was unequivocal.
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“No,” he said when asked if he had thought about stepping down. “I have got that confidence in me, our club, my staff, and the players that we will turn a bad bit of form around,” he said.
“Of course, it hurts you from a personal point of view, but not from a professional point of view. Perhaps not everybody has given up and they shouldn’t give up on it. So professionally, no, because it mustn’t – but personally of course it is always a bit of a dagger in your heart, especially when you have got your own family there. But I don’t want people to feel sorry for me, it is part of the job, and I want to turn it around. And I am going to.”
I understand the frustration of fans after such awful performances, I really do. I have watched Torquay United since the mid-1970s. I was first taken by my dad as a kid and was sitting next to him on the day we won this division the last time. When he died, I took dad’s shirt to Ashton Gate. We all know what happened there.
We are all tied-up so tightly in a shared Torquay United history that this slump is almost physically painful. But when the Gaffer has so vehemently stated that he is going nowhere, why pick away at the players’ confidence every week, especially when the younger ones are so obviously affected.
I have said it before and I suppose I have to say it again – the end of the season will be the time for judging. Please. Right Now. Get Behind The Gulls – at least for the 90 minutes or so they are out there.
I am not banging the drum for Gary, I have been critical of the manager this season when the performances have been low (and boy have they been low at times), I am just saying, when the atmosphere is affecting the players so much, how can that be anything but a negative?
I do recognise that press releases like the club made last week don’t help however. That just seemingly wound up the fans already set on protesting and caused the Supporters’ Trust to act after so much social media action criticism. Having had a go at the club for a lack of communication this season, it’s a shame that often when they do communicate they don’t seem to choose their timing very well – or their words.
Banning banners and children under-14 without an adult? That’s an odd one. I might not have become so hooked on the Gulls if I wasn’t allowed to come on my own to meet my mates – or at least come through a different turnstyle to my dad, who was always in the old Grandstand. Are Torquay turning young fans away from a lifetime of support?
In a perfect world we would all pull together and work as one to get us out of this mess. But that’s not going to happen. So I guess protest might be the way forward for TUST. But please don’t put any more pressure on the players, their confidence must be at an all-time low already.
Wasn’t it wonderful giving Aaron Jarvis that reception when he came on to the pitch in the second half of the Slough game. Did you see how crestfallen he was at the final whistle. Everyone is feeling this.
But nothing good comes from negativity, and positivity must be the way forward. But then I am just an old geezer with an opinion – and isn’t everyone entitled to one of those?
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